gerardsweeney

At the risk of digging up an old thread.. I was faced with this, too. I ended up compiling an autoit script which: 1. Installs the drivers (which I lifted from a previous install, found in C:\windows\system32\driverstore\FileRepository) using DPInst and a silent xml file. 2. Runs the setup /s, but watches for any spawns of DPINST, DPINST32, DPINST64 and kills them 3. Copies over a secondary launcher script, which changes each user's MakerBot desktop ini file to obey system proxy and not check for updates. That was for our old Windows 7 setup. I've got the last version of Makerbot desktop on Windows 10 on my to-do list. Hopefully it's the same process

Glad it's not just you that's being ignored. In their defence - they did get back to me to say to add a new environment variable : set Unity_PROXYSERVER={etc} That got me a different error message in the log about the certificate, and then it was back to suggesting proxy bypasses.. Sigh.

All.. Possibly I'm late to the party, and everyone already does this, but just in case.. I've seen assorted suggestions about getting rid of the Intel and/or NVidia context menu which revolve around deleting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\igfxcui HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\igfxDTCM and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\NvCplDesktopContext I didn't want to do that because it affects all users. And if I ever needed to undo it, it was potentially a pain because of GUID values etc. Instead, I've created a GPO applied to pupil accounts which adds the following: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\igfxcui @ = REG_SZ "{0}" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\igfxDTCM @ = REG_SZ "{0}" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\NvCplDesktopContext @ = REG_SZ "{0}" When applied, pupils don't get the Intel or Nvidia context menus because the HKCU value over-rides the HKLM value, and there's no such thing as GUID 0. Seems to work here on our Windows 10 setup? Cheers, Gerard

No comment I can't get it to show the "manual activation" option when running the software.. I'll maybe try yanking the ethernet cable out, see if that triggers it... Utter pain in the ..... Thanks for the suggestion.. I'd looked at it, but hadn't thought of pulling the ethernet, so it's another avenue to explore.

At the risk of resurrecting an old thread.. I've been asked to install Unity 3D in our school, and it's a pain in the nethers getting it to talk to our authenticated WebSense (or whatever they're called nowadays) proxy. With http_proxy and https_proxy environment variables set, it gets as far as recognising my Unity login ID and password. When it comes to the product activation (licence) part, I get a spinny wheel for a couple of seconds then it errors out. The log file shows a 407 error (proxy authentication required). Which - to my ignorant eyes - means that the proxy authentication works for the user name and password bit, but not the licence checking bit. Unity suggest whitelisting/proxy bypass for a couple of their sites. I've been advised that ain't happening. Unity tech support's latest reply where I explain all this - "add the environment variables" - Gggggnnnnnn, read what I'm telling you!! (and ... breathe)

Hi.. Thanks for the replies. I have 5.7.25. I'm looking for 64bit versions from BEFORE 5.7. All help appreciated. Gerard

All.. I've been able to use ActivDriver v5.07.25 for my older serial based boards connected via COM port. I've got a new model of PC (EliteDesk 800 G3) which the driver doesn't work on. It acts the same way as the 5.7.25 driver does when it's connected to a Keyspan adapter, so I think that the COM port (which is an optional extra on this model of PC) is some kind of USB adapter style. On Windows 7, I had to use a version of driver older than 5.7 to get Keyspan based kit working - but I've only got 32bit versions. Is there a way I can download older versions of ActivDriver from somewhere? Thanks, Gerard PS - changing to USB cable isn't an option, before anyone asks.

All.. Asking on behalf of the technician who orders the pens Our school used to buy the orange/grey Promethean pens (for the older serial model boards) from Misco at about £12-15 each. Misco have sadly gone out of business, so the school are looking elsewhere - and being quoted upwards of £30 per pen(!!) - which is clearly a significant markup. Where do you guys get your Promethean pens from? Cheers, Gerard

Thanks very much, folks. One of our schools had the same boards installed by a different supplier. They work fine. All of the ones supplied by the current supplier don't. I noted the firmware version ended in 5, and asked my colleague to check that against the working ones - they were running with a later version. So thanks for confirming my suspicions. The supplier are now getting shouted at to come out and sort the firmware. Yes, WE could fix it but the polythene is barely off them

Thanks for the suggestion. The monitors are attached with a 2m VGA cable, which is about as short as it can go. I'll try swapping one over with a different one (like one of the 10 billion new ones that arrived with monitors connected with DP cables) - can't hurt to try! Cheers, Gerard

Kind of banging my head against a wall here. Our schools got new ActivPanels installed a couple of weeks back, and Windows 7 keeps resetting the monitor. It SHOULD BE Primary = VGA (the monitor) Secondary = DP (the ActivPanel) And then Windows P to set it to duplicate (because some of the teachers don't like extended desktop) I've logged in as Admin I've set the monitors up as above. As soon as I log out, it pops back to Extended Primary = DP Secondary =Monitor In other words, all they see on the monitor is a black screen because the primary is showing the login screen. Has anyone come across this?

Hi. The 5.7 driver you linked to worked when manually installed - my test Win10 64 bit PC is talking happily to our serial based boards. Next up will be wiping it again and scripting the install via SCCM. Then onto the fun that is PCs using keyspan/similar USB<>COM adapters. Cheers, Gerard

Thanks for the reply. In truth, I think I answered to the wrong thread. My Windows 7 32bit PCs can't use the new version of the drivers when connected via a COM port. I've had to keep them on a fairly early 5 version, at which point they worked consistently. You can imagine my dismay when Windows 10 64 bit running the latest version displayed the exact same issues. (You don't need to imagine it - I vented quite prominently) I'll try the driver you've linked to, and see how it behaves. Cheers, Gerard

At the risk of digging up an old thread again.. Tried the very latest 64 bit driver - ActivDriver_5_17_13_x64 Manually installed. Ticked Serial and Legacy options. Still doesn't detect a PRM-AB2-01 via serial port. At the risk of venting my spleen here.. This REALLY can't be that difficult to fix - the drivers now weigh in at almost 200MB when installed. We've got several hundred AB2s connected via serial. Changing to USB isn't an option - not without having to spend a significant amount of money arranging for the wall cabinets they're mounted on to be dismantled, wallplates swapped out and USB leads run through. Can someone provide a copy of the last known working 64 bit driver? I don't particularly care if it's been tested on 10 yet. I'll try that. It's got to be preferable to telling the schools they can't get Windows 10 unless a significant amount of money is spent to run a cable!

Thanks for getting back to me. I'll give it a bash (once I get hold of a user that's got a name-clash type user ID). I think(?) that one disables the welcome screen that asks if you want to download updates - which we've already killed with the OCT.

Hello, all.. This has been with us for a while, but it's now starting to annoy staff because it's happening more. Our Outlook 2010 client setup is configured to run with a profile that has the username included. (Our server didn't have auto-configure capability when we got 2010, before anyone asks - heh). Which is fine... Unless we get something like a user called SmithJ when there's also a user called SmithJ1. Then when SmithJ runs Outlook for the first time on a PC, it throws up a box asking them to confirm if they really meant SmithJ1. If they pick SmithJ1, then their Outlook profile is b0rk3d unless they know how to go into the profile and reset it. Is there a way of switching off this "helpful" prompt feature in Outlook? Cheers, Gerard

I'm kind of in a reverse situation from some of you folk. I've been looking at LTSB as going to be our primary Windows 10 OS.... Then I see about 1709's improved "On demand" OneDrive. Schools in Scotland all have access to a Scotland-wide educational resource called Glow. Which includes 1Tb of OneDrive space for each user (apparently?). We've resisted OneDrive on clients because of the nightmare synch scenario. Having dabbled with OnDemand, it looks the business. It's just a pain in the whatnots that it NEEDS 1709 (and the latest client). So because of OneDrive, my Windows 10 plans have gone from "Nearly ready" to "You'll need to wait while I find out how to switch off all of the other cobblers. And wait on our Infra team installing the 1709 ADMX". Oh.. And my SCCM boot disk acts weird on 1709. Previously, I could put in PAUSE commands in my Task Sequence so I could troubleshoot things. With 1709, the Windows setup page takes priority and there's no way of seeing the TS window. I can ALT TAB, but I can't get the window to appear. Now downloading the updated 1709 ADK so I can update my SCCM boot disks - mutter, grumble, moan.

Ironically - I was planning on going with LTSB. Then I read about the integrated OneDrive "On demand" where it uses markers rather than a full synch. Most schools in Scotland have access to Glow - a Onedrive/Sharepoint based Scotland-wide educational resource. For that reason, the schools have been desperate to use OneDrive, but we've always resisted because of the horror that would be hundreds of users synching anything up to 1Tb of stuff across multiple PCs each period. Having had a dabble with 1709 and the latest OneDrive client, I rewrote my plans. On Demand is only available for 1709. Now I just have the arseache of dealing with all of the other dreck built into full-fat Win10

I've gone with the suggestion on the sticky about adding a custom layout

Hi, there.. Not sure if it was a typo, or something that's changed in 1709, but.. C:\Users\Default\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Shell is now C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell (And for avoidance of doubt - that says shell at the end, not S space hell as it randomly seems to render on my Chrome browser here?!?!?) Cheers, Gerard

Anyone had this one? V1709 (no idea if it was a bug in earlier versions - I'd been looking at LTSB until the schools caught wind of how good 1709's On Demand Onedrive is) I've added a BAT which does the removal using DISM (I was being lazy, as we already have a BAT which runs various post-install things). It uninstalls the various bobbins (X-Box etc) - which is good, but.... The Start Menu tiles where the now uninstalled apps live are messed up. It now has. Create P~microsoft... P~microsoft_windowscommunications Play P~Microsoft.... Any suggestions? Ideally those which don't revolve around having to export and import a start menu

At the risk of digging up an old thread... Term started here, and the Staff all reported that they couldn't use Metro on their shiny new PCs. Specifically, they could launch the program but not click on the audio play buttons in the middle of the screen. After a few experiments, it turns out that Flash Player 21 is the last version that this runs on. Or, at least, Versions 25 and 23 didn't and Version 21 did. Don't know if there was a version 22 - didn't bother looking. So that'll be it consigned to the rubbish heap when we eventually jump to Windows 10.

I could understand not getting a REPLY, but it doesn't even recognise the host name. As in, if I ping dalaptop01.school.domain from either an IPv4 wired or another DirectAccess laptop, it returns Ping request could not find host. If PING replies (or outgoing) were blocked, I'd expect to see something like Request timed out (as in, it's resolved the host name to an IP address but the send/reply is blocked) Yep, that's what I thought. I'm on the desktop side, so I can't say for certain. In answer to one of the above - we have the 2000-odd laptops spread across 35 schools. Most Primary schools have about 60, some high schools have a few hundred. I don't know why it was implemented this way, but that's what was implemented.

Hello, all.. My workplace relatively recently introduced DirectAccess in a fairly big way (blanket hit of all schools with WiFi). We now have round about 2200 wireless laptops configured for use with DA. Which is splendid. Except.. I've spotted a few issues which I'm hoping someone will confirm is not right (we've no basis for comparison, y'see). FYI - the DirectAccess setup we have means that an IPV4 PC can't talk to a DA laptop either via IP or by FQDN. And vice versa. We have a list of servers which the DA laptops are permitted to talk to. Oh, and they're Windows 7 Enterprise laptops. PING If I attempt to PING a laptop that's connected via DA, I get an unknown host error. As in, it doesn't even attempt to resolve the IP address (be it the IPV6 or the IPV4 one). This happens if I try the ping from a wired IPV4 workstation, or another DA laptop. I don't mean I can't get a reply (suggesting the firewall is stopping PING replies). I mean it doesn't recognise the host name. Certificates When the laptop is configured to be in the correct AD group and the OU which says it gets the necessary DA settings, it gets a machine certificate. That certificate lasts a year. My understanding is that the certificate should be able to renew itself OVER DIRECT ACCESS. Currently, when it expires, we need to hook the laptop up WIRED to get a new year long cert. SCCM PUSH I'm assuming this is related to the lack of host name resolving.. We've recently installed an SCCM environment. The server is currently pushing out the agent to any/all PCs which it can locate. It does not push out to DirectAccess clients. Any advice on any of the above would be gratefully received. Even if it's so I can present the information to my Infrastructure bods to say "this bit SHOULD work". Cheers, Gerard

That's what I feared.. This/next year's move to Windows 10 is going to be entertaining for the hundreds of COM-port-less PCs (HP UltraSlim and/or Minis) attached to serial-based boards which are mounted on enclosed wall panels. I'm going to retry my experiments with the latest driver on a PC which DOES have a com port, so I can confirm if it's just not working with ANY com port, or if it's just a problem with the COM support driver not knowing to look at any COM port which isn't COM1.